The problem is, trailers are played so loud, that the faders are being turned down to compensate for the excessive volume... and they are not being turned back up for the feature. Hence, the presentation of the feature is being affected by the trailer. TASA was put in place to bring the features back up... by bringing the trailers back down. Make sense?

What I would like to know is:

A) What is your fader set at? (average)
B) Can you tell me the screen number and the Theatre location?
C) Have you turned your fader up at all in the last year?

The TASA committee has been slowly lowering the volume of trailers, and although the complaints have decreased. I would like to know if the purpose has been addressed... Are the faders coming back up, or does TASA have to keep lowering the volume?

And before you bash TASA, let me say that it is a slow process... Due to the numerous trailers that play for long and short periods, TASA cannot effectivly lower the
upper limit too fast or the disparity between trailers released under the upper limit and those released ealier would be significant. That is why we are cycling the upper limit down slowly, one db every six months or so.

I'd appreciate your help in finding out if this is working, and / or if it is working too slowly and needs a swift kick in the pants.

a) 7.0 average, for SR/SR-D features, 6.5 seems to be the average for Dolby A, and 7.0 for mono.

Back in the good old days when we were an "ordinary" commercial establishment (we screen classics and run previews these days, plus a film festival, and- but you don't want to know this), we set the volume separately for each trailer, to give the audience the best presentation we possibly could. We were, and are still, a chgangeover house, so the projectionist's got plenty of time for this.

b) The Draken, Göteborg, Sweden (only one screen; curiously listed as "Folkets Hus 1" at Dolby's SR-D website... Folkets Hus are the owners, but the theatre's not been renamed just yet, thankfully...)

c) Up, and down, and up, and down, and...

For earlier shows (which would draw fewer people), I'd tend to turn the fader down a bit; for Fri/Sat evening shows that sell out, I'd tend to turn it up a bit.

One exception would be Beautiful People, an English film. Both the trailer and the movie itself were loud just at 5.0. It was the first time I ever had to turn the volume up for the trailers and then down for the feature.

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Brad is absolutely right. Standardise the levels now and deal with it for a month.

Then you can just call it fixed!

I have dolby digital in all auditoriums with 6 movable DTS units and 4 SDDS units. Again, no matter which unit is playing where all spl levels remain the same.

Essentially all my auditoriums can play feature at "reference" level.
My trailers start out at 5.3 then my automations bump up the faders to no more than 6.5 depending on the pre-screened feature. Any exceptions to this rule are sold out shows in which fader is allowed to reach 7.0.

We have still been turning the faders down to compensate for the difference but I notice it is less.

Our faders stay on approx. "5". They could be as high as "6" but we are in a smaller town and people just LIKE the volume lower.

We have the SDDS turned to -1.8 so people don't complain TOO much about the sound (which I can hear in my office behind three sets of closed doors)

I don't believe in the "set it and leave it" method, since some producers/directors just like to make ultra-loud movies, audiences be damned. Gotta compensate for that, or we'd lose business. Of course it makes it easier when I only have one screen to do a listen-test on! (I just KNEW there were advantages to being a single-screen!)

For what it's worth, we've had DTS since '94 and stereo (with subs) since '92 and I have never once had a complaint that it's "too soft," and only two or three "too louds" a year. Mostly I get 'comments' (like "That was a loud one, wasn't it?")....when they say that, it is probably too loud.

As far as trailers, some are too loud, some too soft. I agree with the crowd...cut the volume now, all at once.